(September 28) — National Public Radio (NPR) coverage of Arab-Israeli news continues to violate federal law requiring “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature,” CAMERA Washington Director Eric Rozenman has told board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

NPR receives federal funds through CPB. The corporation is required to monitor recipients’ compliance with objectivity and balance mandates, Rozenman reminded board members at their quarterly meeting last week. “CAMERA has documented in studies over extended periods and in analyses of incidental coverage that NPR ... continues to display an established pattern of anti-Israeli, pro-Arab bias,” he stressed.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) also criticized NPR's Middle East reporting. Sherman noted that he, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and nine other members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to NPR President Kevin Klose last year after a series of unsuccessful meetings. They reiterated that “for many years, National Public Radio programs have presented a view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is too often biased against Israel.”

Direct Qassam missile hit from Gaza kills 2 Israeli children Wednesday night in Sderot, a 3-year old boy and girl of 10. Doctors fighting to save life of another critically injured 10-year old. At least 30 injured, including many shock victims

According to a Shin Bet report released Monday, there has been an 84% decrease in the number of Israelis killed in terror attacks since the completion of the first portion of the security fence in August last year that comprises 134 kilometers between Salem and Elkana.

>"Last Week I Saw Clinton" That's Sami Al-Arian speaking, boasting to his fellow-Islamist, Fawaz Damra back in 2000 or 2001, reports WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland. (Al-Arian is the former University of South Florida computer specialist now in a U.S. jail for raising money for and directing Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Damra is the Cleveland imam convicted yesterday for the same thing.) Here are two snippets in full as we know them from the Damra trial now available:

A 1998 phone conversation:

Damra: "All the aid and such. You have received it?"
Al-Arian: "May God reward you and bless you."
Damra: "You will be receiving a second portion."

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- A group of armed men abducted a CNN producer in Gaza City on Monday.

The men kidnapped producer Riad Ali after stopping a taxi he was riding in with CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman and a CNN camerawoman.

A white Peugeot pulled in front of the taxi, blocking its way, Wedeman said.

"A young man got out of the car, pulled a gun out of his trousers, came up and said to me -- actually in Arabic -- 'Which one of you is Riad?'"

Ali answered, "I am Riad," Wedeman said.

The kidnapper ordered Ali to get out of the taxi, Wedeman said. As he did so, several other men, some with AK-47s, exited the Peugeot.

Wedeman said the kidnappers made no attempt to cover their faces.

"They took him out of the car and drove him away," said Wedeman. No one was injured in the incident.

Ali, who is an Arab, has worked for CNN for about two years. He has worked in Gaza and the West Bank. Wedeman described Ali as someone who is known in Gaza, has worked there "for several years and has good contacts." Ali had been trying to set up interviews, Wedeman said.

"We have always been able to operate here without too much trouble," said Wedeman.

At CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, CNN President Jim Walton said, "We are working actively for Riad's safe return and are in touch with his family, offering them our full support during this difficult time. We have not yet heard from his abductors but urge them to release Riad immediately. He is a veteran journalist of the highest integrity."

CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Ben Wedemen, speaking to CNN Monday night described Ali as a well respected journalist liked by all his colleagues. He said the kidnappers were uncommunicative, not unusual in appearance and in their early 20s.

It was strange, he said, that in an "environment usually hospitable to us, for men to put a gun in my face and ask me about people I work with."

"But for all of the negative attention Mr. Rather draws as a lightning rod for conservative ire - especially evident in the last few weeks, as he backpedaled on a story damaging to a sitting Republican president - his most likely successors remain relatively unknown." --today's New York Times

Interesting take on what happened, eh? Rather merely drew "conservative ire" and then "backpedaled." The problem, you see, is that he undertook a story "damaging to a sitting Republican president."

1. If it is only conservatives who respond with "ire" to CBS using forged documents to influence presidential elections, then whew, I got out of the Left just in the nick of time.

2. The story wasn't damaging to the President because it wasn't shown to be true, and indeed was damaging to CBS . . . for the same reason.

3. Rather "backpedaled"??? (To retreat or withdraw from a position or attitude) I would say he failed to backpedal sufficiently, maintaining that he believed in the gist of what was stated in forged documents.

forg·ery, n. ~ the act of falsely making, altering, or imitating (as a document or signature) with intent to defraud; also : the crime of committing such an act

In this same article, The Times discloses that it owns four CBS affiliates, and quotes the chairman of an association of affiliates as saying, "When all is said and done, it's a business.''

New York Times Company NYT (NYSE) $38.74 $-0.29 -0.74% 9/27/2004 10:23 AM ET

And btw, I found this September 1999 "action alert" from "Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting," [which itself is biased to the Left] notes that the NY Times ran seven stories about the Viacom-CBS merger "in its September 8 edition alone." They've shown no such extent of interest in the CBS News fraud. Bias? Political agenda? Nah.

And speaking of bias, last Wed. the Times ran six letters to the editor about the CBS scandal, five of which excused or praised CBS and took the opportunity to bash Bush, --all under the headline, "How CBS Got Burned."

If anyone is getting burned, it's us, the reading watching public, the electorate. Mainstream media is astonishingly corrupt. They have betrayed our trust and deserve all the "negative attention" and "conservative ire" we can bring to bear.

UPDATE: John Leo has a piece today at townhall.com, commenting on the Rather fiasco and the (past and future) role of bloggers.

Do we want an all-out vengeful assault on CBS, or do we simply want the network to come to its senses and play stories straight?